A little about Musically
Musical.ly is a social app targeting teenagers, where the users call themselves Musers! It is just another form of social media, but the idea is quite unique. This platform lets the users create videos they can then share to their network of followers. It also allows one to comment on the videos. With this app, the users will be able to create 15-second videos with a sound clip at the background. You can follow your friends, strangers, celebrities, and everyone who is using the app. The app was created for entertainment and while it serves its purpose, it should be kept away from young children. The app was born in 2014 and has since then become extremely popular with the teens.
TikTok and musical.ly
Last year, musical.ly was rebranded as TikTok when Bytedance Technology Co. acquired Musical.ly for about US $1 billion. The app is called Douyin in China and has more than 300 million monthly active users! Not only the name, but the aesthetics and the app itself have changed after the acquisition.
Social Sharing
Musical.ly is a social app where the users usually lip-sync to popular or funny songs or dialogues. One can also sing, dance, or perform musical or comedy performances. Once done, you can apply filter or effect as well as fine-tune the speed. You can take part in challenges where you will have to create a video that is according to the theme or song they have come up with. Then, use hashtags and share it socially so that everyone can see it. When I say social sharing, it is not only within the platform, you can also easily share it to Instagram, Vine, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. A search for musical.ly videos on YouTube showed up a result of 22,600,000 videos. In Instagram, you will more than a million musical.ly hashtags.
Musically – Privacy Settings
When you first create your musical.ly account, it will be set to public by default. You can change it to private later. If your account is private, you will have to individually approve everyone who wants to follow you. Despite the fact your account is private, your Bio will still be public, such that your name, username, and other social media usernames are available for everyone to see. When you are setting up the app, you are very likely to be asked about your Instagram username. The platform also offers the users the option of switching off their location settings. The app does not use the exact location, instead only an approximate within a 50-mile radius.
It would be completely justified if you are concerned about the under-13s using this app since there are plenty of songs with explicit lyrics and so on. However, the company has created a separate section for the youngsters where they can view only certain types of videos. They will not have the option to search, comment, or post their videos. It is also nice to know that their data will not be collected.
Final Word
It is a great app and is extremely entertaining. You will have more fun if you are aware of the potential privacy issues and take steps to protect them. Keep the under-13s around you safe as well.
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